The present invention relates generally to an animal feed or water dish and, more particularly, to a dish assembly including mounting means for facilitating mounting the dish assembly to the side of a cage defined by a lattice structure.
It is well known to provide feed dishes for cages containing small birds or animals wherein the dish is adapted to be mounted to the side of the cage. Known feed dishes utilize a number of different designs and mechanisms for attaching the dishes to the side of a cage. For example, a known mounting structure is provided for engaging between two adjacent vertical elements of a cage lattice structure, and another known mounting structure includes members for hanging the dish from a horizontally extending element of the cage structure. Typically, there is a trade-off between securely mounting the dish or feeder to the side of the cage and providing for ease of removal of the dish, such as may be necessary for refilling or cleaning the dish.
In a recently proposed structure, disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,832,872, a mounting structure integrally formed with the feeding dish is described, including a threaded male member which is adapted to extend through the side of a cage and be engaged by a cooperating threaded female member to thereby retain the dish in position on the cage. The design of such a mounting structure requires facility in rotating threaded members, which in certain circumstances may hinder use of the feeder due to the particular location of the cage and/or abilities of the person attending to the feeder.
Accordingly, there remains a need for a dish assembly which may be securely mounted to the lattice structure of an animal cage, and which is further characterized by a mechanism which is easily and quickly manipulated to mount and dismount the dish assembly relative to the cage side.
The present invention provides a dish assembly for use in combination with a cage having a cage side formed as a lattice of horizontal and vertical members. The dish assembly includes a bowl, or an upper storage compartment and lower tray, and a mounting structure for attaching the dish assembly to a cage side wherein the dish assembly is formed with at least one sidewall and a bottom connected to the sidewall to define an area for retaining food or water. The mounting structure includes an elongated leg structure integrally formed with the side wall and extending from the side wall through the lattice of the cage side. The leg structure includes an enlarged portion located at an end of the leg structure distal from the side wall.
The mounting structure further includes a slide member for engaging the leg structure in linear sliding movement. In use, the dish assembly is positioned with the leg structure extending through the cage side, and the slide member engages over the leg structure in linear sliding movement perpendicular to the leg structure and parallel to the sidewall whereby the slide member is located between the sidewall and the enlarged portion to wedge the cage side between the slide member and the sidewall.
In the preferred embodiments, the leg structure comprises a pair of leg members located in horizontally spaced relation to each other, and the enlarged portion includes a flange member extending horizontally in a perpendicular direction from each of the leg members. The slide member is formed as a planar element including top and bottom edges wherein a pair of slots are formed extending upwardly from the bottom edge toward the top edge for engaging over the leg members.
The design of the present dish assembly provides for ease of placement of the dish assembly in association with the side of a cage, and further provides for ease of secure attachment of the dish assembly by placement of the slide member in association with the leg structure through simple linear movement of the slide member relative to the leg structure.
Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to provide a dish assembly which is easily attached to the side of a cage defined by a lattice structure.
It is a further object of the invention to provide such a dish assembly with a mounting structure which is operated with a minimum of manipulation while providing a secure mounting for the dish assembly.
Other objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following description, the accompanying drawings and the appended claims.